Peacekeepers of the Vast/Zeta Reticulans

The Zeta Reticulans, known to most of the Solaran Union as The Greys, are an alien species of humanoids with pale skin. The vast majority of Zeta Reticulans are members of the Scholastic Magisterium of the Reticuli People, a republic organized like a species-wide university. The Magisterium is an associate member polity of the Interstellar League.

They are well known throughout the galaxy for having experimented extensively, sloppily, and unethically on Earth before Earth had made their jump to space. The Greys' interference, and the reaction of pre-jump Earthlings, led to the League ban on uplifting humanity, deeply punitive sanction by the ISL, and mandatory sexual harassment training. As Human-Grey contacts sometimes lead to violence and more rarely, kinky sex, No More Butt Stuff was a big moment.

Notably, the Magisterium are an associate member, and will never achieve voting status, as a result of their sanction.

Scholastic Magisterium of the Reticuli People

Zeta Reticulans are organized into a complicated series of bodies and institutional roles, each of which has control over matters within their jurisdiction and/or an institutional vote in a higher level body. The most important level of organization, indicating the societal role of the Zeta Reticulan and vehicle for political representation, is the college. Members of a college are ranked: one can be an an apprentice (child), a junior student (adolescent), a senior student (young adult), a junior associate, a senior associate, a professor, or a distinguished professor, with advancements being determined by a mix of seniority and merit. Zeta Reticulans are sometimes associated with a college as a post-graduate student or adjunct. These Reticulans actually have less rights and political representation than even apprentice members of a college. Colleges will have various departments, for which the senior associates and above elect a Chair who is at least a professor, and the departments in turn elect among their number a Dean. Colleges will be banded together into related Schools, which elect Provosts. Provosts in turn elect Presidencies.

When a Zeta Reticulan announces she is pregnant, she, and usually her partner, are placed into the College of Gestation (not to be confused with the College of Obstetrics) while retaining their old college, but (temporarily) as adjuncts or post-graduate students as appropriate. This is following reforms where Zeta Reticulan parents were placed into the College of Gestation as adjuncts and lost any influence over how their children were raised. A newly born Zeta Reticulan is placed in a natal creche, which is a department within the College of Gestation, and advanced through the basic education program until they are placed as an apprentice in one of the colleges at a young age, which is also when the parents are returned to their originating colleges.

Changing colleges is possible, but most Zeta Reticulans avoid it as it is an enormous hassle and results in the loss of seniority and tenure protections. Magisterium law does allow non-Zeta Reticulans to become members of colleges and thus Magisterium society, but there are many formal and informal restrictions on gaining full membership.

The Magisterium also organizes into senates, workgroups, committees and boards, but assignments to those bodies do not change college membership. Each planet will usually form a Planetary Administration Committee of the Whole, in which all local members of the colleges can vote as a representation of that college for the purposes of local administration

Biological Considerations

• Zeta Reticulan DNA is very similar to Human DNA and Vesper DNA.
• Zeta Reticulans may be capable of producing offspring with humans.